'Cover Crops, No-Till & More' Workshop Feb. 16 in Preston

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PRESTON, Minn.—“Cover Crops, No-Till and More” will be the focus of a special soil health workshop Friday, Feb. 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at St. Columban Church (408 Preston St. NW) in Preston. This Land Stewardship Project (LSP) workshop will feature West Union, Iowa, farmer Loran Steinlage. There will also be short presentations by a local farmer panel on their soil building practices, as well as a discussion focused on cover crops, interseeding and building soil. The cost is $15 per person, which includes lunch catered by Estelle’s restaurant of Harmony, Minn. To reserve a spot by Feb. 14, contact LSP’s Shona Snater at 507-523-3366 or ssnater@landstewardshipproject.org.

DIRECTIONS: From U.S. 52, turn south onto St. Paul Street NW; after .1 miles turn right to stay on St. Paul Street, then after .2 miles turn left onto Preston Street NW. St. Columban Church will be on your left.

Steinlage has a 750-acre no-till farming operation that consists of corn, soybeans and some small grains. After 10 years of cover crop experimentation, Steinlage has become well-respected in northeastern Iowa for his innovative work with V6 interseeding and relay cropping, growing multiple crops at once. He will share his homemade interseeder design that can precisely double-row drill his cover crops and apply fertilizer.

“Life is about being resilient, and fortunately, my family has learned to build resiliency into our family and our farm,” said Steinlage.

The local farm panel will include farmer presenters John Meyer of Stewartville, Rick Sommerfield of Mazeppa, and Dean Richards of St. Charles. Meyer has recently transitioned to no-till and is experimenting with incorporating cover crops into his cash crop rotation. Sommerfield strip-tills and no-tills corn and soybeans, uses cover crops and is looking to construct his own broadcaster for interseeding cover crops. Richards raises beef and grows certified organic row crops, hay, and small grains, and is using cover crops to extend his grazing season.